Elizabethan Love: Taming of the Surgeon
by SilentControversy
Summary: Part 2. Chapter 4: Addek, the interns. An alternate-universe of Grey's Season two. Everything is twisted, yet some things were meant to happen. What if Addison's true identy hadn't been revealed until much later?
1. Tongues in Tails

**A/N: I don't own them. And this is part 2 of the series. So go read the first part. It won't make too much sense if you don't. Just in case some people are feeling a little lazy...  
**_RECAP: Derek and Addison did not reveal the details of their relationship when Addison first came to Seattle. Alex develeoped a little cute! crush on Addison, and they banter. Everyone plays poker. Addison told everyone that Mark Sloan was her husband. Callie and George are together, but they aren't really into each other. Izzie was feeling 'lonely'. Cristina had an abortion, and Meredith and Derek were together in happy land. And then-- Derek tells everyone that Addison is is wife. _

* * *

**Elizabethan Love: Taming of the Surgeon**

_Petruchio: __Who knows not where a wasp does_  
_wear his sting? In his tail._

_Katharina: __In his tongue._

_Petruchio: __Whose tongue?_

_Katharina: __Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell._

_Petruchio:__What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again,_  
_Good Kate; I am a gentleman._

* * *

"Addison is my wife."

Derek's eyes rested on the floor, until they trailed up from the floor and cautiously met Meredith's. She was silent and scared, her breath caught in her throat.

Alex shook his head, "Not possible." He looked at Addison. "You're married to Mark Sloan. You said that." He laughed. "It's a joke." He touched Meredith on the arm. "Meredith. It's a joke. They're kidding."

Meredith didn't say anything, just stared at Derek.

Addison turned her body, and held on to one of Derek's arms. "Alex. It's not a joke. We're married." They looked like a married couple, although Addison's boxers and jacket didn't really match Derek's sweater and pants.

"He doesn't have a ring." Alex was desperately trying to prove them wrong. He wanted to hold on to the denial a little longer, but he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that she wasn't lying.

"It's at the trailer." Derek explained carefully, frozen in his steps. "Technically, we're separated, so I didn't wear it." Addison was relieved that he had kept it. She had been secretly afraid that he might have thrown it into a large body of water, or destroyed it somehow. She shot Derek a glance before locking eyes with Alex.

His eyes clouded, and he spoke firmly, "I don't believe this." His mind was literally rejecting the idea.

Derek and Addison stepped back a little.

Alex hesitated, and then fisted a hand in his hair. He decided that he'd better get out of there before his anger got the best of him. He left, slamming the door to the garage behind him.

They heard his car start, and speed off.

Meredith was standing, her arms crossed against her abdomen, and her eyes welling up. Derek winced; he hated to see her cry. He shook Addison off, and tried to put his arms around Meredith. "Shhh. I'm sorry. I should have told you."

"Get off." Meredith moved a little in his arms. "Get off. Get off. Get off." She repeated in a flat voice. She couldn't pull away from him. She could never voluntarily pull away from Derek. He was McDreamy. "Get off. Get off." He took the hint, and stepped backward.

Tears were streaming down her face, and she knew her skin was all splotchy. It was only now that she noticed Addison's beauty, when she felt like the ugliest, most worthless person in the world. She didn't realize it before, but with Addison's pretty hair, and soft features, she could easily be mistaken for a model. And well, Meredith was just...Meredith. Completely average in every way.

"How could you do this to me?" She had to know. Meredith had been royally screwed over by the person she trusted most. How could she have been so blinded by his charming personality and good looks? She wasn't like this; she hated those girls who let one man consume their lives. This was not her.

"I didn't want to hurt you." Derek gave her his puppy-dog eyes, and Meredith made a mental note not to let them affect her. "Please, Meredith. Believe me. I love you. Addison and I are separated. And I though she was leaving, and there was no point in telling you and getting you all upset."

Meredith turned away from him, walked to the doorway, and then stopped. "This is worse, Derek! You lied to me. I trusted you."

"Actually...I never lied to you." Derek was hoping to get off on a technicality, but he knew he was just digging a bigger hole for himself. He reasoned that it probably wouldn't get any worse. "I never said I wasn't married, and Addison _is_ my friend."

Meredith whipped around. "Mark Sloan?!" Did he think she was stupid?

Derek pointed at Addison, who had backed away trying to give the couple some privacy. "That was all her! I never said anything."

Meredith rubbed her eyes with her palm. "It doesn't matter, Derek. Lying by omission is still lying!"

"I was doing it for you." Derek defended. He leaned against the counter, trying to give her some space.

Addison stood by, quietly witnessing their conversation, and hoping that no one would address her. She looked at the ceiling, pretending that she wasn't hanging on their every word.

Meredith waved her hands around in the air. "I thought we were getting serious! You opened up to me."

"I did!" Derek stressed. "I told you how I felt! Only...the, uh, details of the situation were never fully...made known."

"Meaning?" Meredith raised her eyes in anticipation. She wanted to know, she hated being kept in the dark.

Derek couldn't find his voice. He stuttered, "Sh-she didn't cheat on my best friend. She cheated on me." Derek shut his eyes a little, and when he looked back up, Meredith was staring at him, annoyed. "But you...got...that."

Meredith paused for a only second, and then took a step towards Addison. "You're an idiot." She looked between the two of them. "I can't believe you did this. It's insane. You guys...have problems." She hit Derek lightly on the arm. "You made me a mistress! I'm a slutty mistress."

"You're not slutty." He grabbed her hands. "I was completely committed to you the entire time. I haven't slept with anyone else since leaving New York."

"All mistresses are slutty!" Meredith was pacing the kitchen in circles now. "And I'm supposed to feel better because you remained faithful to your _mistress_?"

Addison bit down on her fingernail, and impusively tapped Meredith on the shoulder. "That's not exactly true." She was probably asking for trouble, but she needed to have it all out in the open.

"Addison..." Derek warned her. "Don't," he whispered.

"We have to. No more lying." Addison looked up at him with her serious eyes, and he groaned reluctantly. He kept his head down while Addison told Meredith calmly, "We kissed."

Meredith shook her head in disbelief, and pointed between them. "You two kissed?" They hated each other. It didn't seem feasible that they would want to express anything other than their mutual animosity.

Addison had tears in her eyes, but her skin remained clear, and she appeared elegantly tragic. "So, I kissed him. It's not a crime to kiss my husband." She needed to feel morally content with her decision. She needed to blame Meredith because she wasn't quite sure who the victim of this whole situation was. "But you slept with him! That's one of the ten amendments!"

"Comandments." Derek reminded her.

"Who's side are you on?" Addison snapped at him. If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't even be in this situation.

"Meredith's!" He exclaimed. "Was that not clear?" He turned back to Meredith. "It was a good-bye kiss!" Derek declared. Meredith looked as if she was about to storm out, but Derek stopped her. "_She _kissed _me._ I didn't do anything. Please."

Addison sighed. She supposed she should apologize. After all, she lied too. "Meredith..."

"No!" Meredith growled, and gripped the counter, facing Addison. "You're even worse than Derek! How can you lie to someone you don't even know? You have no idea how much this hurts." She ran her hands through her hair. "I know this is really stupid, but I had this little thing where I thought you could be with Alex, and I could be with Derek, and we would all be friends, and maybe something like a family. " She wanted to belong to a family so much, but now she would never have that chance. All of a sudden, she had to remind herself to breath. "Why didn't you just leave? You obviously don't give a shit about Alex, which is stupid because he likes you and he can be a decent guy when he wants to." Meredith took offense at the way Addison had treated Alex, especially now that she could see Addison's behavior in a different light.

"I don't know what to say, Meredith." Addison walked in an uncertain half-circle around the kitchen. "I was willing to come here and divorce Derek, but then I saw him," She paused, "and I remembered how much I love him." She smiled a little at Derek, and hoped Meredith wasn't really watching.

Meredith was angry at Derek, but she was at least willing to fight for her right to love him. "She's taking advantage of you! And Alex! Can't you see?" She flung her arms out to gesture to Addison, but her fingers were closer to Addison's face than she had though, and her nails scratched across Addison's cheek. Meredith stepped back, surprised by the tingle she felt in her fingertips.

Seriously? Addison held a hand to her burning skin. "Ouch." She winced, and looked at her hand. She was bleeding a little. "Did you just hit me?"

Meredith put a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to!"

Derek stopped her. "Meredith! I know you're angry, and you have every right to be, but that's not necessary."

"I didn't do it on purpose! I swear!" Meredith pushed the bangs out of her face, and stood on her tippy-toes to get a glimpse of Addison, but Derek was blocking her.

Derek smiled to himself and ruffled Meredith's hair. "Don't worry. I believe you."

"I can't believe you hit me." Addison pouted. Before, she hadn't thought Meredith had the guts.

Meredith's eyes softened at the small splotches of red on Addison's hand. It wasn't like Addison was bleeding perfusively, but there were a few red lines on her cheek from Meredith's nails. Finally, Meredith realized the absurdity of what had just happened. She accidently hit her superior, her boyfriend's wife, and her possibly soon-to-be boss. "Damn it. Sorry." Her face fell as she bolted out of the room to grab her jacket. "I'm going to work." Her hair fell into her face. "I can't deal with this right now. I've got to get out of here."

"No. Meredith!" Derek nearly tripped over himself trying to catch her.

"I really have to go. Now." Meredith pushed a chair in front of her to distance herself from him. "I probably won't see you at work today. So. Bye."

Derek fell on the chair, and sighed, defeated.

* * *

They sat across from each other at the table. Addison pressed a white paper towel to her cheek, and closed her eyes, sleepily.

Derek drummed his fingers on the table. "You shouldn't have done that."

Addison sighed wearily, and it wasn't even nine o'clock. "What?" She could feel a long, tiring conversation ahead of her, one she wasn't ready for. She stuck her fingertips into her hairline, rubbing the inevitable headache away.

"You shouldn't have told Meredith about the kiss. It wasn't necessary."

Addison opened her eyes, and saw him staring back at her. His cold eyes rested on an indefinable spot in front of her on the table. "She would have found out somehow, and then she would never have forgiven you. You only get one second chance."

"Well, now, I might not even get that!" Derek's fist hit the table. They were sitting so far apart that it didn't startle her.

She noticed that he was wearing a blue sweater, but she didn't recognize it. He must have bought it in Seattle to go along with his new life, and his new girlfriend. The life she wasn't apart of.

But she thought he looked attractive in blue.

She was still wearing Alex's jacket, and boxer shorts, which wasn't exactly sending Derek the message she wanted him to hear.

They were so far apart.

She moved to the chair closer to Derek, and he scooted away. "I thought it was nice. The kiss."

Derek scoffed and looked away. "It didn't mean anything. Just because I'm being nice to you doesn't mean I've forgiven you."

"You said that you had changed, that you were different, and I was the same." Addison wasn't about to be deterred by Derek's hurtful words. During the past couple days, she learned to live with it, and bounce back. Really, she was just ignoring him, but she told herself it was getting easier to hear these things from him. "I'm not the same. I'm not the same person I was in med school."

"Addison, you are exactly the same-"

"I'm not!" She insisted. "You just can't see it because you never spend any time with me."

"I wonder why?"

He was infuriating! "Derek..." she paused, "Don't you remember when we were a family?" She felt a special connection to him, one that was deepest and darkest love she ever felt. She was so afraid of losing him.

Derek was still turned away from her. He wouldn't look at her, and she was talking to his profile. He brushed a few crumbs off the table. "Yeah- until you slept with my best friend, and then, I didn't really feel like a family anymore." People who were in love didn't do that to each other.

She sighed, annoyed by the hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I don't know what you want me to say. I've apologized hundreds of times. I didn't mean to hurt you. That's the last thing I wanted. But you don't know what it felt like."

"I don't want to know what it felt like, Addison." He spoke angrily through his teeth. "Can we just stop talking about it?"

"Sure." She felt the tears that were to come in her sinuses, and the front of her cheekbones. She breathed a little harder, and she stopped. She didn't want to cry in front of him because she knew he wouldn't feel compelled to comfort her, and she didn't want to face that.

He turned around, and grabbed her chin. "Let me see your face."

"You can see it just fine." The paper towel was still over her cheek. She didn't want him to see it. He could easily point out her flaws without seeing the ugly red marks on her skin.

He grabbed the paper towel out of her hand. It rubbed against her skin a little.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

She was fine. Derek was sure that no one would even be able to see the scratches, with a little bit of makeup. "You're fine."

It was her turn to be sarcastic. "I know. Thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment." He went back to looking away.

It was impossible for him to be genuinely nice to her, without sucking up to Meredith. And now that went to hell, so she was just left with hostility. "We should probably get a divorce."

He took in a sharp breath, and then let it out. He was still, his hand resting on the table. "Yeah."

She didn't think he would actually agree. She entertwined her fingers tightly, and brought them up to her lips, almost like she was praying. She was glad he couldn't see her. Only a single tear rolled down her face, but it was all the more painful, burning into the sore skin. "Okay," she said shakily, almost whispering.

"Fine." There was a tight pain in his stomach, the kind he got when he was so nervous that he threw up. "I'll call our lawyer."

"It's all right." She took a gaspy breath. "I can do it."

"I'll do it." He was insistent. He wanted to make sure this was done, and done carefully.

Addison shook her head. "Why won't you look at me?" He heard a sob from her general direction, and he felt badly. He waited for a moment before slowly turning in his chair. She was facing him, with her arms stretched out on the table. Her eyes were red, and he almost forgot that she was the woman who cheated on him.

He used to enjoy looking at her. She was pretty, and who didn't like to look at pretty things? But she wasn't a thing, and she had the thoughts and dreams of a person, and those were beautiful too.

Now, his eyes barely focused on her for a second before spontaneously darting away. He really couldn't think of anything, except seeing her and Mark in bed together. He groaned. It got worse every time. He shut his eyes, only for a moment, but she noticed.

"You can't look at me, can you?" It made her want to crawl in bed, and sleep all day, just to forget how much he hated her.

"I can." He tried really hard, squinting at her a little. It worked. She was blurry, but he could look at her when he thought about how much she hurt when he wasn't looking at her. It was just hard to be with her alone, sometimes, but it was getting better.

She would take that. She would take anything that he could give her, along the lines of a relationship.

He even went as far to saying, "We could be friends." He thought it would make it less hard, because he wouldn't see her as a cheating wife, but as a friend who was simply making a mistake.

"I already drew up the divorce papers," she confessed. She wasn't sure if he would be angry or not.

He thought about it, and was sad for a second that she had thought about not being married before he did, but he got over it. It wasn't that big of a deal. "Oh, okay. I suppose I should thank you for not making me go through the trouble."

He was thanking her for drawing up divorce papers? Somthing didn't seem right. "We should be friends, though. After we get everything sorted out."

He clasped his hands together, and set them on the table next to hers. "So, where are the papers?"

"At my hotel room." She wanted to hold his hands, but she didn't think he would approve. "I haven't signed them yet, so..."

He was glad that she hadn't signed them. If she had, she would have been making the decision without him, and he liked to have his imput considered. Still, he was disappointed. He thought she had come to Seattle to make amends, and win him back. Maybe Karev actually had a shot.

No. Bad thoughts.

"So...are you going to bring them to work and we can sign them there?"

Addiosn acted surprised. It was awfully fast. Weren't they supposed to mourn or say one last goodbye to their marriage? It frightened her to think that they would never have another date, or make love again. She supposed that it wasn't appropriate, and that most soon-to-be couples wouldn't want to be around each other enough to have one last night together. Maybe the fact that she wanted to be around him was a sign that she shouldn't get divorced. But they had to. There was no other choice.

So they couldn't stay married, and they couldn't get divorced.

It didn't make any sense.

"I'll go and get them when I go home tonight. And we can sign them tomorrow." She wanted to tell them that she was probably going to love him forever, and that he'd better get used to it, regardless of his feelings for her. She decided to focus on moving on instead.

"You're not going back now?" He realized that he may have come off as anxious to get the divorce over with. This was probably the best attitude for them. They needed a clean break.

"Why would I?" She didn't want to get divorced right away. It seemed that the signing of their names was rather final.

"Are you wearing that to work?" He looked down at her attire.

She glanced down with him, and touched the edge of her boxers. "Oh. No. I can go get them." She hesitated. "Just to make it clear: I didn't sleep with Al- him. I mean, these are George's."

"Okay." He couldn't be anything but passive about this.

"I just didn't want you to think that I did. I haven't slept with anyone since Mark."

"Thanks, Addison." Was that supposed to make him feel better? He swallowed, as he realized she was trying to make the same argument that he had an hour earlier with Meredith.

When he looked away again, she grabbed his hand, and he turned his attention back to her, surprised. He jolted, but he didn't pull away. He told himself that he was just startled. She stared at him, her eyes wide, "I'm assuming Meredith was the only one. Right, Derek?"

He couldn't move. He didn't really want to tell her, but he supposed she had the right to know. "I don't think that's any-"

"Of my business?" Was her husband really trying to convince her the number of women he slept with wasn't any of her business? "It doesn't matter. We're getting a divorce anyway."

"She was the only one," he confessed.

Addison didn't know if this was a good or bad thing. She kept trying to convince herself that it didn't matter anymore.

He changed the subject. "Can you get the papers?"

She took a deep breath, and stood up. "Yeah."

They were going to get a divorce today.

* * *

Mrs. Phillips went into distress in the mid-afternoon. Addison had cringed throughout the entire surgery, as Alex had stood right beside her the entire time. She couldn't tell if he was mad or not.

He remained professional, only speaking about the surgery, not mentioning the previous events at all.

He was freaking her out. Were they just going to ignore the elephant in the room?

She stood over Mrs. Phillip's in a recovery room, checking on her vitals, and he was standing on the opposite side of the bed. He wasn't saying anything, just standing there and watching Mrs. Phillips. Like he was supposed to.

After a unimaginably long fifteen minutes of making quiet, insignificant conversation, she decided she should leave. They weren't going to get anything accomplished if he didn't have anything to say.

It was disappointing that he didn't actually care. Maybe she had lost the right to be disappointed, after she had lied to him and all.

She was about to put away the chart and leave, when he said, "I suppose I shouldn't be mad at you."

She turned around slowly. "What?"

He smiled that cocky smile of his, and placed his hands on the bed. "Well, I guess you warned me, so I shouldn't be mad."

She set the chart down on the bed cautiously. "I did warn you..." Was he seriously going to give her a free pass on this one? "What do you mean?"

"I'm not saying that I wasn't shocked out of my mind. But after thinking about it," And punching a locker... "I figured that I probably should cut you some slack." He added, "And it would be easier to go up against Shepherd, than _Mark Sloan._"

"Thanks." Addison smiled.

He shook his head. "Sorry. I probably shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay." She didn't care if he called Derek names, or even hit on her. She was just glad he wasn't yelling. It was nice to know that someone was actually thinking about her.

He stood there honestly, without shading his eyes or looking away. "No. I didn't mean to lead you on. I wanted to tell you that his whole thing- relationship- whatever, it's over."

It was her turn to be startled. So he _wasn't_ thinking about her. What happened to his drive, his desire for her? He had been so stubborn, and now, nothing? "Oh. You don't want to see me anymore?" He was just like Mark Sloan. Never truly committed. She almost thought he had wanted to be with her. Thank God she missed that mine field of a relationship.

"Oh, no. We can still talk at work and stuff. I just don't feel _that _way about you anymore." He was lying, of course. But it was always better to reject than be rejected, he thought.

She considered telling him about the divorce papers in her locker, but, in the end, decided against it. She didn't want to put him in an uncomfortable position.

"Can I just ask you one thing?" His hands were placed awkwardly on his hips, like he was trying to be strong, but it wasn't working out too well. His eyes did the squinty thing, and the wrinkles by his eyes became more prominent.

She sucked in a breath. "Sure."

"Why are you still with him? He's your husband, and he hurt you."

So, he did still care. It was a nice thought, Addison decided. Even if they couldn't be together, it was a nice thought. "I guess the good times in the beginning were enough to hold on to." She patted him on the shoulder. "But they're not anymore, and I know that. We're going to change. Even if it means that our marriage fails."

Truth be told, he was a little confused. Obviously, Addiosn liked to talk in puzzles that made no sense at all. "Well, okay. Thanks for clearing that up." He laughed in his head at his quick-witted sarcasm, but she thought he was completely serious.

She picked the chart back up. "So...I'll talk to you later."

He nodded, "Okay." When she was out of the room, he let out a large sigh.

"A married woman, Dr. Karev?" Mrs. Phillips slowly opened her eyes. She didn't look happy.

"We're not together." He muttered. He really didn't have the time to be compassionate with his patients right now. He had to move on. He needed a beautiful woman _now_.

"Listen to me." Her voice was soft and cold. "If she has a chance at saving her marriage, you can't change her mind. Trust me. I have experience with this sort of situation."

Alex smiled mockingly. "I'm sure you do." He started to leave.

"Dr. Karev."

He turned around impatiently. "What?"

"Please let her stay with her husband. She needs to, if there's a possiblity that her marriage could work out. There's too many marriages that fail to waste an opportunity like this." Mrs. Phillips eyes were wistful, and she clung to the blanket. "Please. There needs to be hope for the rest of us."

He grabbed the railing of her bed. "I wasn't going after her anyway, so mind your own business!" He started to walk away. "Your babies are fine, by the way."

She didn't even care enough to ask.

* * *

Cristina was sitting in an on-call bed when Meredith finally found her, tired and weary-eyed. She took off her lab coat and sat down next to Cristina. "You will not believe the day I just had."

Cristina didn't say anything, but just watched her.

"Derek is married." She kept talking. "He's married to ADDISON. And it's killing me."

Cristina looked at her, puzzled. "I don't know who Addison is."

"Well, she used to be Alex's person, but now..." Meredith shook her head. "...it doesn't matter. She's just pretty much perfect, and she's married to Derek. I don't know what I'm going to do. I thought I was going to _marry_ him, Cristina."

Cristina was trying her best to be supportive. She really was. "So marry a different guy."

"He liked me for my personality! Guys don't just like me because of me. They like me because I can pound just as many tequila shots as them, and then have hot dirty sex with them. That is why guys like me."

"But McDreamy was different."

"He was! He loved me!" Meredith crossed her arms. "I can't go back to him, but I still love him, despite everything. What am I supposed to do?" She sat cross-legged on the bed, across from Cristina.

"Screw another slutty boy."

"What is with you today? You're unusually bitter, even for you."

Cristina took a deep breath. "I had an abortion."

Meredith resisted the urge to drop her mouth open, and explode into some kind of lecture about responsibility. Then, she resisted the urge to full-out police station interrogate Cristina on her well-being, and other details (the identity of the father included, of course). She calmed down for a good minute, and then wrapped her arms around Cristina. "Does anything hurt?"

Cristina was very stiff. She shook her head.

They laid down, and fell asleep, feeling like they both belonged to something.

* * *

A/N: I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. I think it's a little boring, because, basically you've already seen it already. Hopefully, I put enough of a twist on it to make it better.

Next chapter, it really starts to get different. I don't want to give anything away, but in the next few chapters, some of the guest stars pop up in weird places. And it's like, "Oh! I wonder what would happen if we put this person here, and said 'Go!'" Yeah, that makes no sense, but it's really fun anyway.

I want to tell you more so badly, but I'm restraining myself, so you can be surprised when the actual chapter comes. I'm excited, if you can't tell.

Thanks for the BEST reviews ever. Seriously. Let's see if you can top yourselves. I know you can do it!


	2. Good Reason

**Elizabethan Love: Taming of the Surgeon**

_Lucentio: One more thing rests, that thyself executes  
__to make one among these wooers: if  
__thou ask me why, sufficeth, my reasons are both good_  
_and weighty._

Addison stood in the lobby of the hospital. It had been a good end to the day. Mrs. Phillips was okay, Alex wasn't mad, and she was moving on, from Derek, the affair, and everything.

Truthfully, it was kind of terrifying. Nothing was the same. She liked the familiar, and now, there was no more "familiar" left.

But she told herself this was good. After all, good things only came from change. Nevertheless, she avoided Derek all day. There was no point in denying it: she didn't want to sign those divorce papers.

She had taken advantage of her marriage. She should have enjoyed it, taken better care of it.

And now it was over.

The papers were in her bag. She could feel their presence, even though she wasn't touching them directly. She just wanted to take them out, and burn them, or throw them away. She sat down on one of the chairs in the lobby, and put the bag on the chair next to her.

She needed a drink.

No. She didn't drink on good days, and this was a good day. She kept forgetting.

She waited about fifteen minutes, until Derek stepped out of the elevator, alone. She was pleasantly surprised that he was heading home early. He looked as if he might need the extra sleep. His shoulders drooped, and he hunched over in exhaustion. His eyes were barely open, and he yawned at least three times before he saw her. He nodded a greeting. "Hey."

"Hi." She took her bag off the seat.

He sat down, or rather, fell down, and slouched against the chair.

She smiled sadly, "How was your day?"

He sighed and looked at the ceiling. He didn't want to talk to her. She ruined his life.

"Come on." She nudged his shoulder. "We're friends now."

Right. They were friends now. They weren't going to be married anymore. "Fine." This was going to be hard to get used to. He rubbed his forehead. "It was terrible. I lost a patient."

"I'm sorry." She touched his hand that was on the armrest. "Did you talk to Meredith?" She didn't want to be insensitive, but she had to ask.

"No." He growled. "She ran away from me all day. Did you talk to Karev?"

So, Addison wasn't the only one avoiding Derek. "Yeah. I saw him. He was oddly okay with it." She shrugged.

Derek groaned. "Why? He was so angry. Why is he okay with it, while Meredith can't even look at me?"

"I only knew Alex for two days. I'm hoping you and Meredith have something more than that." Or else she was getting a divorce over nothing.

He buried his face in his hands. "What am I going to do?"

She patted him on the knee. "You are going to do everything in your power to get her back." It was getting easier to say things she didn't mean. "I can help you."

"You want to help me?" He lifted his head to look at her, almost smiling.

"Yeah." She tucked a curl behind her ear. "I owe you one."

"Okay." Derek wasn't going to decline her help. "We have to sign those papers."

"I have them right here." She patted the bag, her stomach turning inside out. "You want to see them?"

"No." He actually didn't think she would do it. The divorce papers were really in that bag. Living proof of their failed marriage. "We should go to Joe's."

"Why?" Like a date? Was it a date if they were pseudo-married? Or just friends?

"We can sign the papers. And drink." He said this as if it was obvious. She laughed and he smiled, "And talk." He stood up. "You can teach me some new moves."

She stood up. "Yeah. You need them."

They made their way across the street in silence. They were separate, though. Individual.

They sat down at the bar. A few interns were seated near them, but neither Addison, nor Derek really cared. She got out the papers, and he ordered the drinks. They stared at the for a while, taking a few sips of their drinks.

"Got a pen?" he asked.

"No." was her immediate response. He rolled his eyes at her, and bent down to pick up her bag, retrieving a pen out of the side pocket.

"Sorry." She smiled bashfully.

He laughed, and flipped to the first page that needed their signatures. He swallowed. Their names were there on the paper.

It was final.

"I don't really want to do this," she confessed. Her face was red, and she was breathing erratically. "I mean, I want to do this, but not really." She looked at the paper and then looked away. She couldn't get upset now. They were in a public place, with Meredith's friends sitting near them.

"Are you okay?" She looked like she was going to be sick.

No. "I'm good. Let's just get this over with." The sooner it was over, the sooner she could cry.

"I don't want to do this either." He crossed his arms. "If I could, I would stay married to you. But I can't. We can't." He needed to be with Meredith.

She rocked on her chair. "I don't know- do you feel like we should say something? It's like a death."

Derek frowned. "I don't know- do you want to say something?"

Addison took a deep breath. She had been thinking about this for a while. This was the last chance to talk to him honestly as his wife. "I just- I really enjoyed being your family for the past eleven years...and longer." She couldn't look at him. "And I love you. And I'm sorry I screwed this up so badly. I just feel sick when I think about it. I wish I could make you happy."

"Okay." He stopped her. This wasn't a good idea: she was just making this harder. He fingered the edge of the paper, curling them, and smoothing them over.

"Oh, sorry." She mumbled. "Do you not want me to talk? I'll just shut up now." She waited for him to sign the papers.

He put the pen down.

She picked it up, and rolled it between her fingers. She set the ball of the pin down on the paper. She could feel her hand twitching with the muscle memory of her signature. She picked up the pin, and signed her name in the air.

It was nothing, she kept telling herself.

She set the pen down. He didn't pick it up. "So, Meredith? Does she like flowers?"

* * *

It was a bright and sunny day.

Well, it wasn't raining, which made it a bright and sunny for Seattle.

Derek was optimistic. He sat on a bench right outside of the hospital, a pretty bouquet of pink and yellow flowers in hand. Meredith was supposed to be arriving soon, with the rest of the interns. They had rounds.

Surely she wouldn't avoid him as much as to go all the way around the hospital to the back entrance.

No, she was just running late, he thought.

Derek was so ready. His hair was perfect, and he was wearing her favorite cologne. He had prepared a whole speech, declaring his adoring love for her. He turned around and looked at his reflection in the glass of the hospital.

Not bad. Just enouch scruffle. She wouldn't be able to resist him.

He saw Cristina drive by, with two passengers (Meredith and Izzie, he assumed). He stood up and they immediately spotted him. He stuck out like a sore thumb, as he was wearing the red shirt he wore when he first met her.

They were like a pack of wolves, ready to sink their teeth into his heart. "Meredith."

She walked straight past him.

"Meredith."

She ignored him.

"I know you're angry." Derek was starting to doubt his plan. Maybe his hair didn't look that great. "Please. Listen to me." He gave her the most apologetic look he could muster, with tears glistening in his eyes.

She sighed. "Okay." She turned to Cristina. "I'll be right up."

"Are you sure?" Cristina leaned forward.

"Yeah." Izzie whispered. "We can definitely take him. Mess him up a little." She threw a few punches in the air, and Derek stepped back, slightly frightened.

Meredith held them back. "I can handle this."

They left, shooting daggers at Derek with their eyes.

Meredith turned back to Derek. "What do you want?"

"You." His arms went around her waist and back, and she made no move to stop him, at first. "I am so sorry I didn't tell you about Addison. But we're getting a divorce. We were over months ago. It just wasn't official."

She took his hands off of her. "It needed to be official before you even looked at me."

She was right, of course. Derek couldn't say anything to counter that, so he handed her the flowers. "I got you these because they're pretty." He smiled Mc-Dreamily. "And you're pretty."

Meredith almost smiled back. She almost believed that he was doing this out of love. She took them. "If you knew me at all, you would know that I don't like to get flowers from guys." Especially ex-boyfriends. "Flowers die." She gave them back to him. "And they're pink." She hated pink.

"What's wrong with pink?" Derek laughed, to make the situation seem like less than a failure. Truthfully, this could not have gone worse for him. He should have listened to Addison. 'No pink,' she had said, 'Blue and white roses'. Blue, because they're incredibley rare, and it shows your dedication to her. White for apology and forgiveness.'

But no, he used a different logic. Girls liked pink. Meredith was a girl.

That was stupid.

He pictched the flowers in a nearby trashcan. "I'm sorry. I really thought you would like them. I tried. Can you forgive me?"

"No!" When was he going to get that in his head?

"But I love you."

Meredith could tell he meant it. Why did he have to be so cute- and dreamy? She stepped a little closer and smelled him.

All right, one moment of weakness. She grabbed his face with he rhands, and kissed him hard. She slipped her tongue into his mouth for just a moment, and then pulled away. She sighed in relief.

Derek was grinning. They weren't even in the elevator yet. (Which would have been his next move.)

Her eyes narrorwed. "Don't get too cocky. We're over. As in, never going to be in a relationship again," she spelled it out for him.

He was still grinning. "Sure." He obviously didn't believe her.

"Seriously." Now, she couldn't stop smiling. She tried her best to look angry again. "I just needed a way to bookend-" she stopped. She didn't owe him an explanation.

However, he was nodding, and making it very hard for her to be serious. Which she was.

She pointed to the door. "I'm going to go now. I expect we can have a completely...professional...relationship?" She made a face at the look he was giving her.

She left, and he laughed.

He had her.

* * *

Addison swallowed thickly.

She shut her eyes, as her mind flashed back to the ninth grade.

She opened them again, and looked out at the cafeteria before her. People were laughing and talking all around her.

She stood at the end of the cafeteria line, frozen.

There was nowhere to sit.

Oh, God. She was going to have to sit in the bathroom again. She HATED sitting in the bathroom. Her tray always fell over on her awkwardly placed knees, and she had to use toilet paper as a napkin.

She frowned, and she almost dumped her tray when she saw Callie waving at her.

She smiled in relief, and set her tray down on the table.

"Hey!"

"Sit down." Callie kicked out a chair with her foot. "What's going on?"

Addison let out a breath, and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. "I was just about to have a tiny panic attack because I didn't have anyone to sit with. Thanks for saving me."

"No problem." Callie opened her sandwich. "What were you going to do? Sit in the bathroom?"

Addison laughed, a little too much.

"You were, weren't you?" Callie couldn't believe it. "You?!"

Addison threw a napkin at her. "Shut up. So what if I was a loser in high school?"

"No way."

"Marching band."

"I don't believe it." Addison must have been like a cheerleader or something.

Addison nodded, "I carried a tuner around in my purse, instead of a cell phone."

"Wow," Callie laughed.

"I was emotionally attached to my clarinet. I named it Arthur." Addison bit down on a celery stick, as she fondly remember Arthur. "I think he's still in the attic."

"You are weird. Please tell me you don't have a favorite time signature."

"Six-eight." Addison was quick to answer.

Callie looked like she was processing the thought. She started to speak, but Addison interrupted her. "Favorite key signature? E flat minor."

Callie scratched her chin. "I totally didn't expect that."

Addison shook her head. "Nobody does." She munched on a cracker. "Were you in band in high school?"

"No..." Callie hesitated, "I was a different kind of weird."

"Oh." Addison dropped the cracker. "You weren't one of those sex-crazed emo kids, were you?"

"No!" Callie bit her lip. "How can I explain it?" She thought a bit, and then told Addison in a serious voice. "Pick a number between one and one hundred."

Addison tried to figure out what was going on. Then, a lightbulb went off in her head, and she smirked, "Forty-two."

Callie raised her eyebrows. "And why?"

"Because it's the answer to life, the universe..."

"And everything!" Callie finished for her. They high-fived. "I love you. No one ever gets that!"

"Are you kidding? I loved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!" Addison was grinning.

They laughed for a few more minutes, and then Callie got quiet.

"What?" Addison was still giggling.

"I can't believe you're leaving." Callie pouted.

Addison made a design in her pudding with her spoon. "Oh. Well, there's actually something that I have to tell you."

Callie looked hopeful. "Yeah?"

"I'm getting a divorce."

Callie's face fell. "I'm so sorry."

Addison sighed. "That's not even the worst of it."

Callie waited patiently for her to continue.

"I'm getting a divorce...from Derek."

"Derek who?" Callie still wasn't getting it.

"Derek Shepherd."

"Shepherd? Why would you get a divorce from Shepherd? Aren't you married to that Sloan guy?"

Addison shook her head, and waited for Callie to think.

"Oh. Why would you- I don't understand." She wrinkled her forehead in confusion.

Addison looked away. She didn't want to lose her only friend in Seattle. "I don't know. It was all just a big mistake. But I guess I'm staying here now."

Callie's mouth dropped open. "You're staying?!" She squealed. "Yay! That's so exciting." She gave Addison a hug.

Addison laughed. "You're not mad at me for lying?"

"No. It's not that big of a deal." She opened her soda can. "We're friends. And you're staying!"

Addison picked up a piece of fruit with her fork. "Thanks for understanding. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Callie was just glad she finally had someone she could talk to. "So, you and Shepherd? What's going on with that? I though he was infatuated with Grey."

"He is." Addison looked down.

"Oh. Sorry." Callie grimaced. She didn't want to make her new friend feel badly. "I just can't picture you two married."

Addison shook her milk carton. "Why do people keep saying that?" Years ago they were inseperable. People used to freak out if they _weren't _together.

"Because you hate each other." Callie acted as if this was obvious.

"We don't hate each other." Addison tried to convince herself. "We're just like that..."

Callie nodded. "Right."

"It doesn't matter. We're getting a divorce."

Callie sighed in exasperation. "Does Grey know?"

"We told her...and Alex...together, this morning."

"Why?"

Addison brushed the hair out of her face. "He wants to have a relationship with her. You can't build a relationship on lies." She felt like she was repeating herself over and over again.

"I guess that makes sense. How did she take it?"

Addison groaned, remembering, "Not good..."

"I can imagine." Callie laughed. "What did she do?"

"Well," Addison started, "she was upset, and Derek apologized a lot. And then she made numerous accusations against us, most of which were- true. And then she accidently hit me."

Callie spit out her food. "She what?"

"She was passionately speaking, and she gestured towards me, and her nail were very long." Addison winced, thinking about it.

"She scratched you?" Callie squinted. "Where?"

Addison ran her finger along the small line on her cheek. "Here."

"I don't see it." Callie tilted her head to get a better angle.

"It's there." Addison insisted. "She was angry that I basically lead Alex on."

Callie nodded. "That's justified."

"How?!" Addison was offended.

"You lead Alex on."

"Whatever happened between us, Alex is okay with it." Addison shrugged. "So why should Meredith be so angry?" She put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands.

"She'll come around." Callie assured her, as she took a bite out of her apple. "Interns are just weird."

Addison smiled. "No kidding." She looked over at the other table, where George, Izzie, Meredith, and Cristina were all eating. "Do you ever get the feeling that Cristina and Meredith are lesbians?"

Meredith was feeding Cristina a cracker, and they were laughing about something that Izzie and George didn't understand.

"Sometimes." Callie acted serious, which surprised Addison. "Even Shepherd understood that they needed their 'alone' time." She leaned in closer to whisper, "Now, I've never been there when it happens, but I heard that more often they not, they sleep in the same bed."

Addison laughed. "Poor Derek." It was funny, how her thoughts almost always turned to him.

"Did you know Cristina came up with the whole 'McDreamy' nicknaming spree?" Callie smiled.

"Excuse me?" Addison had never heard this before.

"That's what they call Shepherd. They call him McDreamy. And now, whenever they talk about men, they call them by using 'Mc-' and then an adjective," Callie explained.

"McDreamy? That's so embarrassing!" Addison looked incredulous. "Oh, I am _so _going to make fun of him for that. What do they call George?" She winked. "McCutie? McPuppydogface?"

Callie didn't smile back.

"Oh-no." Addison set her milk carton down on the table. "What happened?"

"He just ended it!" Callie chewed on a carrot angrily.

"Do you have any idea why?"

* * *

"Meredith!" George shouted from across the bar. He waved, and she waved back. She was sitting next to Cristina.

He clumsily climbed into the seat next to her. "How are you?" He smiled.

She glared at him.

"Okay..." He tried again. "You look- beautiful- today."

"George!" Meredith was halfway drunk, and she was getting annoyed. "Stop trying to make me feel better! It's not working!"

George took the tequila away from her. "That's enough." He pushed it away from her. "So I heard about Shepherd. You guys broke up?"

"Yep." Meredith giggled. "I betcha never thought that would happen. I betcha thought we were gonna be together forever."

"No." George stepped behind her, and took out her ponytail. He pulled her hair back up, so it wasn't hanging in her face. "You were too good for him anyway."

"Thanks Georgie." She tapped him on the nose.

"I'm not seeing Callie anymore!" He announced.

"Ohhhh." Meredith seemed close to crying. "That's so sad. I'm sorry."

"No." He turned her chair so she was facing him. "It's a good thing. I kind of like someone else."

Meredith grinned. "You do? That's great! Who is it?"

George blushed and looked down. "I probably shouldn't tell you."

Meredith started to bounce up and down in her chair. "Tell me. Tell me. Tell me Tell me..."

He grabbed her hands. "No. Shhh."

"Tell me. Tell me. Tell me..."

"Okay!" George let go of her. "I'll tell you as soon as I ask you a question, okay?"

"Okay!" Meredith kept bouncing, but he held her down.

He smiled. "I was wondering if...well, I would be honored if..."

"Just spit it out!" Cristina lifted her head from the bar, and then plunked it back down, seemingly asleep.

Meredith waved her away. "She's just bitter when she has scotch."

"I wanna take you out on a date." He spit it out.

Meredith laughed, and then covered her mouth. "Oh."

"Do you want to do that?" George suddenly felt rejected.

Meredith wasn't so sure. She assumed that she and Derek would just get back together after everything blew over. But that wasn't going to happen. She needed to have some sort of independence. "Sure."

"Really?" George asked hesitantly.

"I would love to go on a date with you."

* * *

Meredith didn't notice, but Addison was sitting at the other end of the bar.

Addison had been drinking the same beer for the past two hours. She would only take sips when she was parched. She glanced at Alex, a few seats down, and he was on his fifth.

Should she talk to him?

No, that was a bad idea. He looked stressed anyway.

She watched Meredith too. Meredith had gone through at least five shots in the past thirty minutes.

Addison couldn't blame Meredith if she got drunk, and slept with inappropriate men. That's almost what it took to get over Derek.

As Addison tried to calculate exactly how many drinks it would take for her to sleep with an inappropriate man, Alex scooted over, across the seats, to the stool next to her. "Hey, goregous." His voice was husky, and he had an unfinished beer in his hand.

"Hi." She fanned his breath. "You need a mint." She reached into her purse, and popped one into his mouth, without warning.

He bit down on it, and made a crunching sound. He leaned forward, and began to suck on her neck. She pushed him away. "Alex. You said you weren't going to do that."

"Right." He rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. I missed you today."

She tilted her head. It was really nice to hear things like that once in a while. God knows Derek never expressed his appreciation. "That's nice. Thank you."

"You know what I'm really good at?" He randomly changed the subject.

"What?"

"Distance." He held his hands out far apart to demonstrate, and almost hit her. "I don't get too involved with patients. I don't care."

"Now, see. That's the difference between us." She pushed his hands down. "I have trouble sometimes with that."

"It's different." She dealt with tiny babies. It was easy to love tiny, cute babies. It was harder to care about botox-ed housewives who just wanted a boob job so their cradle-robbing husbands would pay attention to them every once in a while. "Today, I operated on a kid, whose father abused his mother."

"That's terrible." She could see how much it affected him. "Was he okay?"

"Yeah, but he still had to go home. He didn't want to go, but I told him he should."

"Why did you say that?"

He took a swig of his beer. "Because if he doesn't know his dad, he's going to regret it for the rest of his life."

"I suppose that's true." Addison stared off into space.

"I know it is." Alex's hands clenched around the bottle. "But he still has to suffer through watching his mother hurt, and scream, and beg, and I don't know if it was the right thing to tell him."

She patted him on the arm. "I'm sure you did fine."

"But I got involved!" He drained the last of his beer. "I gave up the only ideal that I had."

"You helped someone!" She defended.

"No, I didn't. I just made everything worse." Alex passed the beer bottle between his hands. "My dad used to do that, you know?"

"He used to?"

"Hit my mom." He stared down the long neck of the bottle.

"Alex." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as far as she could. "I'm sorry."

He nodded. "I know you are. But the whole thing- it was just so screwed up. It seemed like there was no right choice to make."

"But you turned out so great. And now it's all over. You're fine." She rubbed her nose into his shoulder. He didn't deserve what had happened to him.

"I used to defend my father. _Defend_ him. How could I do that? How could I hold him to such a high standard?"

"It's okay, Alex." She rested her head on his arm.

Alex stopped, and looked at her. He paused, and then stood up. "Come with me."

She followed him. "Where are we going?"

"Just, come." He lead her to the hallway with the bathroom, and the made a sharp right. It was a small hallway with a closet or something. He took her hands, and pressed her up against the wall.

"Oh." She knew what he wanted. She let him kiss her for a few minutes, and then pressed down on his shoulders. "Alex. That's enough. You don't want to do this, remember?"

He pressed harder into her, and it became _very_ clear exactly how much he wanted to do this.

"I lied," she reminded him. "I'm married." She dug her wedding ring into his arm for special effect.

He shook his head, and began unbuttoning the button on her shirt. She grabbed his hands. He looked up at her. "Please, Addison." He looked like he was about to cry.

She sighed, and released his hands, so he could continue. She didn't want to do this, but she didn't want to stop him either. She felt a little like she was cheating on Derek again.

But she was getting a divorce. She wasn't doing anything wrong.

She let out a breath, as Alex's stubble found her chest.

Her eyes started to well up when his hands grabbed at her sides. "I can't. Stop."

"You already said-"

"But I can't!" She began to slide down the wall.

"You just need to relax. It'll feel good. I promise." His hands lightly touched her skirt.

"Don't," she whined.

"Shhh..." He whispered against her neck. "It's all right." He ran his hands up her thighs.

She buried her eyes into his shoulder, and then looked up.

Damn it.

Derek was staring at her, angrily. His fists clenched at his sides.

But he didn't move.

"Alex," she said, loud enough for both of them to hear. "Stop."

"No," he said, audibly.

Derek's face turned expressionless. His fists relaxed.

Addison's eyes pleaded with Derek to do something. She wanted him to take action. She wanted him to fight for her. But he just stood there.

And he left.

"Derek!" She yelled.

* * *

A/N: I know, you all hate me now, don't you.

To all the Addex fans: He will be redeemed.

To all the Addek fans: He will be redeemed.

To all the Mer/Der fans: He will be redeemed.

I also think that Meredith and George deserve a better chance than what they had, but obviously, this pairing is not going to last very long in this story.

Next chapter: Meredith/George awkward!date. A lot of things are resolved. The interns plan a party!!

Review!! Because of the crazy pairing situation we have going on here. Brownie points to whoever knows the question to life, the universe and everything.

Thanks for reading!!


	3. Wind and Fire

**A/N: Here's a hint. Everything that is NOT in italics takes place AFTER the part in italics. Or, more simply, the part in italics is a flashback to the previous night. But I think you could have figured that out on your own.**

**Elizabethan Love: Taming of the Surgeon**

_Petruchio: Where two raging fires meet together  
__They do consume the thing that feeds their fury:_  
_Though little fire grows great with little wind,_  
_Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all:_  
_So I to her and so she yields to me;_

All of the surgeons at Seattle Grace sat around the table in the conference room. Interns, residents, attendings. Even the chief.

It was time for the monthly staff meeting, discussing faults of the administrative surgical system, and offering solutions.

Richard hated these meetings. They were long, and over-worked, cranky doctors did not mix well with freedom of speech. It took more than the recommended amount of ibuprofen to silence the ringing in his ears, and the pressure on his forehead after 2 hours of whining.

And it hadn't even started yet.

Everyone was seated, and he was about to start the meeting. The staff seemed to be unusually tired today.

_Fantastic_, Richard thought, _even more of a reason to whine_. He sighed. It was time to bring on the brainstorming. Free Starbucks for the doctors. More on-call rooms. Less hours. More benefits.

Less.

More.

He forced himself to clear his throat. "All right, settle down," he said out of habit. He shook his head. That wasn't right. They were already quiet.

That had never happened before.

He eyed the staff curiously.

Bailey's interns were all huddled in a section of the conference room. Derek sat a few yards away, and Addison was at the same postition on the other side of the interns, next to the ortho resident, Callie Torres.

Something wasn't right.

Someone was missing.

"Where's Karev?" He barked.

Bailey glanced over her interns, counting. "He was here a minute ago..."

Alex chose this moment to appear, sneaking through the door. "I'm right here. I'm here. Sorry, chief." All of Bailey's interns, and Derek looked down as he walked by. Addison glanced at him, and he almost sat down next to her, but then she looked away.

Callie glared at him.

Alex chose a different seat, on the other side of the room, away from the interns and attendings.

Richard watched this interaction carefully. "Is something going on here?"

No one answered.

"I said," he slowly repeated in his most forceful voice, "is something going on here?"

"No, sir," George spoke up.

Richard nodded. "All right." He straightened his stance. "Now, as usual, does anyone have any suggestions on improving the quality of work at this hospital?"

No one spoke.

Richard was officially concerned.

He walked around the room. "No one?" He paced. "No one has any ideas?" When he got to Bailey's interns, he stopped. "I'm not stupid. All of you-" he gestured to the attendings, and Bailey's interns, "-know something I don't."

They all looked at the ceiling, admittingly.

"I'm going to ask for the last time." He put his hands on his hips.

"What happened?"

* * *

After the meeting, Alex caught up with Addison. "Hey."

She didn't know how to act. "Hey."

"Can I talk to you?"

She didn't want to do this now, so she pointed in the opposite direction. "Actually, I've got to-"

"You don't have anything." He smirked at his own resourcefulness. "I already checked. That's why I humiliated myself by being late."

She hated getting caught in a lie. Now, she owed it to him to talk. "Fine. Go."

"Not here." He pulled her into an on-call room, and flipped on the light. He sat her down on the bunk bed.

He didn't speak, and she didn't know why, but she hated the silence. So she spoke. "About last night..."

"What?" He asked inquisitively. "What about last night?"

So he wanted her to talk. That wasn't exactly fair, considering he was the one who pulled her into the room. She continued, as she wanted this to be over as soon as possible. "I suppose I should apologize for Derek. He never behav-"

"Addison. I don't want to talk about him. I want to talk about us. And what happened."

"You know, it's not that big of a deal..." Even though she had felt terrible afterward, he didn't have to know that.

"Don't say that."

So now he was refuting everything she said. Perfect.

He didn't sit beside her, even though he wanted to. "It is a big deal. I shouldn't have done that."

"Do you even remember?" She laughed, trying to lighten the mood. She wished that she could have just buried her guilt, and slept with him. But maybe then, she would have been more miserable than she was now.

"Yeah," he said seriously. "I wasn't that drunk. I was just angry- and upset."

"I figured that." She nodded, "And it's okay. Nothing happened." Except for his hands happening to be all over her. It would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy it. But she was married, and every time Alex looked at her _like that_ she felt sick to her stomach because of Derek.

Derek.

She didn't even want to think about him right now.

Alex was walking around the room. He kept this up for about a minute, before he spoke again. "But I could have done something really wrong."

He paused. "I did do something really wrong."

It wasn't wrong. It's not like they went through with anything. "No, you were just upset. And I'm glad that you came to me." Guys equated sex with comfort. It was just their thing. She made it a point to accept this fact.

"I came to you for sex, Addison. Not comfort."

"Okay!" She stood up. "I was trying to give you a little credit." He could have lied, and this would all be easier.

He backed up to the opposite side of the room. He couldn't be too careful of his space, now. "I'm not that kind of person. I don't lie."

She stared at him from across the room, annoyed that he was being this paranoid. "Fine!" She paused, and pressed her fingers into her forehead, trying to stop the throbbing. " So, what did you want?"

"I wanted to apologize!"

"Okay!"

"I'm sorry for trying to have sex with you."

She laughed, and covered her mouth. "Sorry." She raised her eyebrows. "That was a really funny sentence." She wanted this to be over right now. She was fake-laughing to make it less awkward, for God's sake.

"Seriously. I wanted you to think that I respected you, and I completely ruined it." He leaned against the wall.

"And I forgive you!" It was the only option, really. Apology and forgiveness went hand in hand. Everyone knew this. (Well, except for Derek. But she wasn't thinking about him.) She tried to take another step forward towards Alex, but he dug his back into the wall, like he was trying to get as far away from her as possible.

He looked down, disappointed. "You can't forgive me just like that."

"Why not?" Her arms hung, relaxed at her side.

"Because I don't deserve it."

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. "You're not accepting my acceptance of your apology?"

Now, they were both confused; they weren't sure that made sense.

Addison shook her head, "What kind of person does that?"

"Thank you for pointing out how screwed up I am. Really, Addison. I needed that." He spat sarcastically.

"It's Dr. Montgomery." Talk about respect.

They both sighed, exhausted.

She finally took a few steps toward him, and he didn't move. "I don't want to do this anymore." _Let's just stop. No more fighting._

"Okay." He relented.

She reached for the doorknob. They weren't ready to make up. She needed time to think, and she suspected the same of him. "Maybe we can start over sometime."

"As friends?"

She nodded, and left.

"Meredith," Derek said her name.

She sighed at the number of times he had said her name exactly like that this week. It was unnerving.

"I'm sorry about last night."

Her eyes stayed glued to the chart.

"I bought you a present to show you how sorry I am." He pushed himself up on the counter of the nurse's office, and plucked the chart from her hands. "You're going to love it."

She tried to grab it back from him, but failed.

"I know the flowers were a catastrophe, but...you'll like this one, I promise." He grabbed her hands. "It's in the locker room. Come with me." He knew she would.

"No." So much for not talking to him.

"Please."

"Okay."

He thought about making a comment on how much time they could save if she would just accept his apology. he decided against it. She would be forgiving him soon anyway, when she saw his present.

She followed him in and he stopped her as he closed the door. "Wait here." He disappeeared behind the lockers.

Seconds later, a tiny white ball of fur came bounding towards her.

"Oh!" She knealt down, and scooped it up.

It was the tiniest thing she had ever seen. Less than one pound, it fit into the palm of her hand. A large red ribbon was clumsily attached to its head.

Derek stood above her, and smugly watched her pet the puppy.

"It's so fluffy," she remarked.

"Look at the name-tag." He was overjoyed at her happiness, and rather proud at his success.

Meredith picked the dog up, and glanced at the silver tag. It read 'McDreamy'. She rolled her eyes. "That's not his name."

"Yes it is." Derek sat down next to her, and ruffled McDreamy's fur.

McDreamy tried to lick Meredith's face. She wrinkled her nose.

"See!" Derek pointed out. "He likes to kiss you too!"

Meredith stood up, bringing the dog with her. "Thank you for the puppy, but I'm not getting back together with you." However, McDreamy did bring a certain cheerfulness to their situation.

"Right."

He still didn't believe her. She needed to convince him that they were over. This behavior could not continue, she decided. "Never," she insisted. "We're never going to be a couple again."

"I would argue differently." Still stubborn as ever.

"Stop it, Derek." He was being an ass. A loveable ass, but still an ass. Did he not respect her opinion at all?

He frowned at her. "Well, excuse me, if I'm so confident in our love that I know we're going to be together forever."

"No, we're not!" He needed to accept that.

"Yes, we are!" He was convinced. This was his last chance. Addison was leaving him, and if Meredith didn't forgive him, he didn't think he would ever find love again. Which meant she HAD to forgive him.

"No, we're not!"

"Yes, we are!"

"I'm with George."

"Yes, we are!" He paused. "What?"

She repeated herself. "I'm dating George."

What? He couldn't believe it. "George who?"

She rolled her eyes. "George O'Malley." He knew perfectly well who she was talking about.

"The intern?"

Why was he being like this? They had all hung out thousands of times. "Yes."

"The babyface?"

"Double oh-seven?"

"Bambi?!"

Meredith stopped him, and stood up. "You know, Derek, if you're trying to get on my good side, calling my boyfriend names isn't going to help you."

He still sat on the floor, lookin"g up at her in disbelief. "That _cannot _be the guy you date after me."

"Well, he is." Actually, she wouldn't call George her boyfriend just yet, but it did sound better. And it seemed like Derek was getting really jealous, which was fun for her.

"Fine!" Derek stood up, and brushed off his scrubs. "I'm warning you, it's going to end terribly. You're not right for each other."

She kissed McDreamy's head. "You're just saying that because you're my ex-boyfriend."

"Have you gone out on a date with him?"

Meredith simply stared at him, with her nose nuzzling the puppy's fur.

"It's a mistake."

"He cares about me!" She defended.

Derek reached for the door handle. "I don't even know what to say."

"You can say 'You're welcome.' because I'm thanking you for the dog." She smiled. She didn't want him to be mad at her. After all, he was a nice guy.

"Yeah." He took a deep breath. He was still angry with her, but he thought that they might be able to get past this. Once she sees how bad it is without him, she'll come back. He nodded at her, and left.

* * *

Meredith cautiously sat down. George had taken her to a very expensive place. The candles were a nice touch, but the true mark of an excellent restaurant could be scene in the number of forks to the left of the plate.

This restaurant had three.

So, it was nice, but not anniversary-nice.

And she was wearing jeans.

They were dark jeans, but still jeans. And they were making her feel very uncomfortable. Because George was wearing a suit, and she didn't know he even owned a suit.

She was thinking too much. _Chill out, Meredith_, she told herself. Breathe.

George sat down across from her. At least he looked happy. "So..." he put his napkin in his lap, "How was your day today?"

"Good." She almost squeaked because she was so nervous. "It was okay after everything with McDreamy and everything."

"Oh. You talked to him?" It was a little odd that she was referring to her ex-boyfriend on their first date.

"No...well, yes." She shook her head. "I mean, McDreamy is my dog."

He loosened the collar on his jacket. She bought a dog and named it after Shepherd? Talk about being attached to your ex. Did he even have a chance?

"No- _he_ named it that. He gave it to me. As an apology for last night."

George swallowed. So Prince Charming came with puppies. How the hell could he come up with something better than that? "But he treated you like crap. He lied to you," he tried to remind her.

"Oh, I'm don't want to get back together with him. don't worry. I'm already over him."

George didn't say anything.

"So over him," she reassured him. "And I would never expect you to go over the top like that. He crossed the line- once again." He sounded annoyed, but it wan't making George feel any better.

"Um. Okay." He didn't know what to say.

There was silence again. Thankfully, the waiter came by and took their orders.

After he left, though, their eyes locked, and Meredith immediately looked away.

They didn't speak. George was starting to get a little sweaty. He took a drink of his water, wiped his hands off on his napkin, and touched it to his forhead.

Meredith scooted forward and smiled. "This is a nice place."

He looked around. "Yeah."

She nodded. "I would have dressed up more had I known..." Her voice trailed off.

"Don't worry about it-" George cleared his throat. There was something caught in it. "You-" he stopped and took a drink of water. His face was turing red. He coughed, just as he was swallowing his water, bringing a hacking spell that lasted for a few torturously long minutes. He managed to gasp, "Sorry," before resuming.

Meredith patted him on the back. "Are you okay?"

He nodded.

Meredith smiled and waved to those who were watching.

He finally stopped, and she frowned, as if it was his fault.

Then, he didn't say anything, and they sipped their water for at least a minute in complete silence. It was just slightly less painful than when he was coughing.

After a while, Meredith sat her near-empty glass down on the table. "This is silly." She laughed, as to demonstrate. "We can certainly find some conversation. What do we usually talk about?"

"You and Shepherd," he mumbled.

"What?" She couldn't hear him.

"Work," he meant.

She stared down at the tablecloth. "Did you have any interesting cases today?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "Appendicitis. Brain tumor. Same old, same old. How about you?"

"I _was_ on Callie's broken tailbone, but Bailey put me on Burke's case." Meredith had a sneaking suspicion that Callie had something to do with it, but she didn't know why.

George laughed. "Well, you and me, both, can expect to be off of the ortho cases for a while."

He seemed to know what was going on. "Why?"

He wrinkled his brow in confusion. Didn't she know? "Well, I'm kind of with you, now. Instead of being with her."

"What? George!"

So, that may have been not the best decision ever, but it had to be done. "I was just worried that I would lose you before I had the chance." He'd wanted to be with her for such a long time, and he would have died if someone else had scooped her up before he could.

Well, it was kind of sweet. But still..."So, now, Callie hates me?"

"She'll get over it!"

Meredith sighed, and looked over to the edge of the table, before making eye contact with him again. She thought about how hard it was to forgive Addison. "I guess she didn't like me anyway."

"Yeah!" George was a little too excited. He looked down. "Sorry."

They fell silent again. _Well, this is going well, _Meredith sarcastically thought.

George's hands grasped his knees nervously, and his fingers tapped against his kneecap. He looked around. His hair was becoming shiny from all of the sweat.

Nothing could be worse than this.

She wasn't saying anything.

Oh my God. This was the longest someone had ever not talked.

_Say something_, he kept telling himself. _Anything._ He brought his hands up to rest on the table, and clasped them together, tightly.

_She's bored._ Meredith was looking down at her glass blankly. George frowned. He supposed that even talking about McDreamy- Shepherd, not the dog- couldn't be worse than this. "So, um..." She looked at him, patiently, "What happened last night? With Derek?"

"What?" Her forehead wrinkled.

"Well, you guys left- when Joe kicked Shepherd out- and we just assumed you went home. But you didn't get come until after we got back." He noticed, because he was worried about her.

"Well, actually..." she started.

* * *

_"Derek!" Addison yelled._

_He was already gone. She struggled with Alex, but he held her firm until she ripped her body from his, following Derek out into the bar._

_Derek was frozen in his place. He was looking at Meredith and George, their stools pushed closer than what was normally appropriate. _

_He pretended not to see them. _

_"Derek!"_

_He whipped around, and saw that Addison was yanking down her dress, quite obviously trying to pull her panties up at the same time._

_At least she still had them on. _

_"I can't believe you!" He yelled at her._

_"I didn't do anything." she pleaded with him._

_Alex clumsily stumbled through the hallway, following her. His eyes scanned the room, until they landed on Addison, and he made his way too her. He stood very close behind her, but kept his hands to himself. His knee grazed the back of hers, and his breath fell hot on her neck. _

_Derek crossed his arms, until Addison turned around, and gently pushed Alex away. "Just- hold on for a minute. I'll drive you home."_

_Derek shook his head. Addison turned back, and walked over to Derek, who had distanced himself from her. "Can we talk in private, please?" She whispered._

_"No," Derek was firm, but he waited for her explanation. _

_She tried to talk as quietly as possible. "I was never with him, and I was never going to sleep with him."_

_Derek rolled his eyes, and glanced over her shoulder. This was the first time he even noticed that Meredith was watching him. This was his chance to show Meredith that Addison and him were over. It was time to prove his committment. _

_"No!" He said strongly, hoping he was loud enough for Meredith to hear. He shoved her backward, not too hard, but since Alex was directly behind her, they both fell to the floor in a mess of tangled limbs. This started a large commotion over the other occupants of the bar, and Joe looked up to see Alex and Addison on the floor, with Derek standing over them. _

_"Hey!" Joe wasn't used to seeing Dr. McDreamy this angry. He pointed to the door, with a somewhat confused look on his face. "Take it outside."_

_Addison was the first to hop back up from the floor. Alex moved extremely slowly, and only managed to sit up in that time. Addison offered him a hand, and pulled him back up using all of her strength. _

_Derek was already out the door, and Addison took off after him. Alex trailed behind, and it took Meredith a few moments to decide that she wanted to be a part of this._

_Derek sat down on the bench outside of Joe's. What was he going to do?_

_Addison stopped abruptly in the doorway when she saw him, and Alex smacked into her, causing both of them to waver, and almost fall down agan. _

_Derek didn't even look up. _

_Alex grabbed Addison's hand. He really just wanted her to tell him that everything was going to be okay. He was sad, and much too inebriated to know what was really going on._

_Addison, on her last string of patience, tore her hand from him. "I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry that you're upset. But you have to stop doing that!"_

_He moved back, his unhappiness made clear in the sluggish way that he moved. He leaned against the brick building, but just enough so that their hips touched, just a little. He closed his eyes._

_She walked up to the side of the bench, and waited for Derek to cool down a little. She could his hands clenching, and the way his hair stood on end. _

_Meredith appeared out of nowhere, and she sat next to Derek on the bench._

_Derek almost smiled. It had worked. She was back with him, but he couldn't let her know he wanted her there. For some reason, this seemed to send her flying off. _

_"What's wrong?" she asked. _

_Derek simply looked at Addison and Alex._

_"They're together?"_

_Derek was still._

_Addison moved in front of them. Her hands were shaking, but she didn't know why. "Derek found Alex and I in a somewhat- uncompromising position. But-" she turned to Derek, "-you have to believe me. I didn't want to. I wasn't going to let him. He was just upset!"_

_Something about the way that she was speaking, all hurried and uncontrolled, made Derek stand up. Meredith pulled him back down. "Alex?"_

_"I had a bad day," he mumbled. They couldn't really hear what he was saying because his face was pressed into the building, somewhat in embarrassment. His fingers reached out, and grabbed a handful of air. The absence of warm skin made his eyes snap open, and he found that Addison was more than a few feet away. He walked over to her, dragging his feet. He leaned against the wall next to her, closed his eyes in exhaustion, and blindly grabbed for her hips._

_That was a mistake._

_Because, instead of reaching for the soft skin of her waist, his fingers sunk into her ass, causing her to yelp._

_"Sorry-" the apology died on his lips before he found hands on his collar, and felt his head splitting against the brick. "Ow." It would probably have hurt a lot more, if he hadn't finished that last beer._

_"Derek!" Meredith pulled Derek's hands off of Alex's neck. _

_Addison was standing on the edge of the sidewalk in shock. Tears were beginning to pool in her eyes. "Please stop it," She whispered._

_Derek shoved Alex against the brick one more time. "She said no, you deaf idiot!"_

_Alex slumped against the wall, and slid down it, the sharp brick scuffing his jacket._

_Addison fell toward him on her knees. "Is he hurt?"_

_"He's fine," Derek barked, while Meredith straightened his clothes._

_Alex's eyes were barely open. "I had a bad day," he repeated. _

_Addison brushed off his hair. She let a couple of tears run down her face in worry. She wanted him to be okay. She wanted to kiss him on the cheek, but thought better of it. She realized for the first time how sick she felt at the thought of Alex in pain. Maybe she did have the capability to love him. _

_"It's okay," she told him, and he smiled back up at her._

_Addison stood up._

_"What happened?" Meredith asked, curiously. Alex never opened up at all, and she had a feeling that he trusted Addison enough to tell her. _

_"He was just upset..." It annoyed Derek that she kept saying that._

_Addison waved her hands around, not wanting to give away anything that made Alex uncomfortable. "It was a patient."_

_"That died?" Derek laughed. "Patients die everyday."_

_Addison wondered how he could laugh at someone else's pain. The Derek she used to know would never have done such a thing. He didn't know anything. "No."_

_"What was it, then?" Meredith knew she was being nosy, but, truth be told, she didn't care._

_"Uhh..." she looked down at Alex. It didn't seem like he was paying attention. "It was just a little thing, with an abusive father. I think it brought up some bad memories..."_

_"Oh..." Derek begins to understand, but Addison doesn't know why he's smiling. "So, like father, like son?"_

_Meredith and Addison were too busy whispering retorts about his insensitivity, and overall brainlessness to notice Alex quietly standing up. He was putting forth a large effort to keep his eyes open. His tongue felt like it was two sizes too big for his mouth, making his words slur together at first. "Atleast I didn't..." He swallowed, and that helped. He clung to Addison for support. "At least I don't hit women."_

_Meredith's mouth dropped open. _

_Addison had a puzzled look on her face, and instantly, Derek defended himself. "What is that supposed to mean? Are you accusing me of something?" Derek quickly formulated a comeback in his head._

_Alex tried to glare at him, but he looked more sickly than angry. _

_"I've never laid a hand on any woman!" _

_"You push her around." Alex's fingers dug into Addison, but she didn't mind. She liked being protected, although she had a feeling that he wasn't doing much good. "A LOT," he emphasized. "It's not nice."_

_Derek could feel Meredith physically pulling away from him. He had to stop this. "At least I don't sexually assult them!"_

_"I- I-" Alex failed to put his feelings into words. "I didn't mean to!"_

_"That's it!" Addison yelled. Alex was getting heavy, and she couldn't take anymore of this. "I am calling him a cab and you can leave." _

_"Don't tell me what to do," Derek muttered, only enough for Meredith to hear. _

_Addison disappeared inside, dragging Alex along with her. _

_Meredith sat on the bench, and Derek leaned against the wall, in the exact spot the Alex had just resided. They were exhausted. Derek rested his hand on her shoulder, until Addison came back out._

_It only took her a few minutes to talk to Joe. She motioned inside. "He's resting. His cab will be here in a few minutes." She walked over to Derek, standing close to him. "What was that?"_

_"I don't like him, Addie." Derek looked rather pitiful in that moment._

_Addison waited._

_"You said no, and he kept doing it. What was I supposed to do?" _

_Meredith was amazed at how they could talk as if she wasn't there. It was like being in The Twilight Zone._

_"I didn't mean that. I was talking about how you spoke to him." Addison's hands were on her hips, and she was obviously very serious. "He was already hurting, Derek."_

_"No, he wasn't!" Derek argued. "If he was sad, he would have been thinking about what was hurting him, instead of doing weird sex things to you."_

_Addison fought the urge to roll her eyes. She touched his arm, and spoke very softly. "Derek, you know when you lose a patient, and you like it when I- I mean, Meredith-" she took her hand off of him, "-when she rubs your back, and kisses you, and-" Addison couldn't continue. It was unbearable to think of them doing anything more than kissing. "-stuff like that." She compromised._

_"Yeah," Derek sighed. He already knew where this was going._

_"It's like that. Alex just wanted to be touched. And I happened to be the woman sitting the closest to him."_

_"Why do you always have to be the woman sitting closest to him?" Derek crossed his arms, putting distance between them._

_Addison frowned. Derek was talking in some weird guy code. "Because no one else wants to sit next to me."_

_"Mark," he reminded._

_She was catching on. "Not him." _

_"Not Mark?"_

_"You want me to sit next to Mark?"_

_"No."_

_Addison laughed, "Well, I have to sit next to someone."_

_"Why?" Derek whined._

_She shook her head. "You get to sit next to Meredith, and I have no one?"_

_"How about this..." he started, using his hands to lay out the scenario in front of him. "I sit here." He motioned to the left of him. "Meredith sits here." He motioned to the right. "And you sit here." He held his hands up, offering the idea to her, but ultimately knowing it was all fun and games._

_"I don't think that's going to work." She chuckled. "Unless you want to move to Utah or Texas or China, or something," she winked at him._

_"Sounds like a plan." He laughed, and then paused. "I'm sorry about Karev. I'll apologize to him, okay?"_

_"Thank you." She grinned. He was being friendly, and nice to her. She didn't know if he had forgiven her or not yet, but it sounded like they were off to a good start. _

_"And-" he winced, "you should know it might take me a while to get used to the idea of you...sitting next to him."_

_She swallowed. He was really going to try? She hadn't even gotten that far. Denial was a reoccuring theme in her world, and she hadn't planned on actually attempting to accept his relationship with Meredith. She couldn't even imagine it. But he was going to do that for her? She cursed the universe for playing with her feelings like this. It was unfair that every move he made impacted her, yet she couldn't reach him at all. _

_"But I don't want to sit with him." _

_"What?" His hands twitched on the wall._

_She was tired of their wordplay. "I want to be with you."_

_He looked at her blankly._

_"I don't want a divorce," she confessed._

_Derek turned his head to look at Meredith, to see her reaction to all of this._

_But she was gone._

_"Where's Meredith?" Addison asked._

_"I think we lost her at China."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: So, I'm actually happy with a chapter, for once. Whooo.

Sorry for the delay. I'm severely burned from the Indy 500 and the 48 hours of party that goes with it. Seriously. The only part of my skin that isn't sizzling is my fingers, for some reason. Hence, I was able to type, and nothing else.

If you want me to finish the Meredith/George date, I will. But otherwise, I'm just going to leave it. I thought that would be really fun to write, but it's not.

Next chapter: Less Addek. (Sorry, guys). More George, Alex, Meredith, Cristina, and IZZIE. Because I miss me some interns. Alex mentions a new love interest. You'll never guess who it is. Unless you name everyone who has EVER been on Grey's. You'll get a hint next time.

* * *


	4. Offer of War

**Elizabethan Love: Taming of the Surgeon**

_I am ashamed that women are so simple_  
_To offer war where they should kneel for peace;_  
_Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,_  
_When they are bound to serve, love and obey._

Addison and Derek sat across from each other in a conference room. Once again, they refused to look at each other.

"So..." Addison began. Her hands clenched tightly on to her knees.

"Yeah." Derek glanced at her for a split second. His fingers started to drum on the wooden table.

Addison stared out the window. It was a dreary day. How fitting. "We're going to..."

"That's right."

He wouldn't let her finish a single sentence. Truthfully, though, it made her life easier that he knew what she was going to say.

She nodded, and squinted in frustration. "Are you sure?"

"No." Of course not. He would never again be sure about anything when it came to her She had shattered his trust into a million pieces. There was no going back.

"Do you want this?"

He paused, thinking. Then, he spoke angrily, "I don't feel like answering that question right now."

"Stop being difficult."

"No!" He stood up. "I get to be difficult."

"Fine." She crossed her arms. He was right.

He sighed. "I'm just going to leave."

She stood up. "Okay."

He reached for the door handle, and she swallowed thickly. "Bye!"

He glared at her, and left, leaving her alone with divorce papers in her hand.

**

* * *

**Izzie rolled her eyes for the third time that day.

"I can't believe he did that. Shepherd is such an asshole."

Meredith smiled. She could always count on Izzie to agree with her. "It's such a cute puppy though."

Bailey's interns minus George had situated themselves around their usual lunch table. As with almost every other lunch, they were discussing the plights and delights of Derek Shepherd. All of the other tables in the lunch room were suspiciously crowded around the surgical intern table, as to catch an earful of gossip. This used to bother Meredith, but now she was just used to it. Truth be told, she almost enjoyed the attention.

Cristina casually kicked her feet up on to George's chair across from her. "A puppy? Mer, tell me you're not getting back together with him over a puppy. That's just pathetic." She chewed on a celery stick.

Meredith glared at Cristina. "So, then, Dr. Montgomery comes back from inside Joe's, and she talks to him as if I wasn't even there. She said she didn't want a divorce. But he still wants to get back together. And-" she hesitantly admitted, "I kind of believe him."

"Don't." Izzie and Cristina answered unanimously.

Alex sat there quietly. He really didn't have anything to say about the previous night. At least not to Izzie and Cristina. It wasn't their business.

Meredith was going to keep venting as long as no one complained. "They spoke to each other in a weird sort of code...like they didn't want me to hear them..."

Alex had to speak up. "You act like you've never heard a married couple talk to each other before."

Alex's statement brought an odd truth to the conversation. Because Meredith had been missing a father figure her whole life, she realized for the first time that she didn't know how a normal married couple acted. If you could call the Drs. Shepherd normal.

But Alex seemed as if he was defending the separated couple. That was not right. Meredith needed his support and encouragement, especially since he was more personally involved than any of the other interns. "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm not choosing sides." Alex shook his head, appearing nonchalant. It made Meredith look as if she was overreacting.

"Why?" Cristina asked blantanly.

Izzie frowned. "Dr. Montgomery hurt you too. And Dr. Shepherd was really mean to you!" Why was he defending them?

"I deserve it." Alex casually took a bite out of his sandwich, making eye-contact with no one.

"Why?" Izzie took a sudden interest in the matter. If Alex did something wrong, it was much more interesting than hearing Meredith complain about Shepherd for the thousandth time.

Alex looked at his sandwich. He was silent.

"Okay!" Meredith clapped her hands. "Who wants to help me take McDreamy to obediance classes?"

Izzie reluctantly dropped her eyes from Alex, not really wanting to drop the subject.

Cristina pointed her fork at Meredith. "You know, when you call the dog McDreamy, it really sounds like you're taking Shepherd to an obediance class."

Meredith took a bite out of her salad, and mumbled, "Yeah, maybe I should take Derek. He could really use some classes in loyalty."

All of a sudden, George appeared, placing his tray down on the table, and moving Cristina's feet off his chair.

Cristina and Alex kept casually eating their lunches, but Izzie's eyes darted between Meredith and George.

Meredith tapped her celery stick against her plate. "I have a suggestion. How about it isn't weird that George and I aren't dating?"

George nodded, "Works for me."

Cristina stopped chewing for a moment to speak, "How is that not weird?"

"Yeah," Izzie agreed, "He was like in love with you, and he broke up with Callie to be with you."

Meredith knew all of these things already, but it took her a moment to think about how they sounded coming from someone else's mouth. It was odd that she hadn't seen it all this time. She quickly formulated a reply in her head, "Well, we _mutually _decided to just be friends, right, George?" She looked to him for approval.

He nodded. Mutually was the key word; it made him seem less like a loser who'd just gotten his heart broken. Although this wasn't a bit true, and he was still in love with her, she had decided to be friends. And being friends was better than being nothing at all. It hurt that she didn't want to be with him, even after their date. Deep down, he believed that he still had some sort of a chance with her, and so, he didn't let it bother him too much. Once everything with Shepherd blew over, then he could make his move.

Meredith didn't know this, though, and assumed the dating part of their relationship was over. "We're okay," she looked to everyone else, "All right?"

Izzie smiled at Meredith, and then turned back to Cristina and Alex, interested in their silence. "You two have been quiet all day. Is there something going on that we don't know about?"

Cristina and Alex eyed each other. All of a sudden, Cristina became paranoid that Alex might have found out about her pregnancy. After all, he had been working on gynie for the past week. She stood up quickly, grabbing her tray. "It's nothing. Just a lot of surgeries." She cleared her throat. "I have to find Dr. Montgomery. Does anyone know where she is?"

Everyone looked at Alex. He slurped his drink before speaking, "She left early today."

"Damn it," Cristina muttered, and left in a hurry.

"Where did she go?" Meredith asked, trying not to be so curious. She was always overly-interested in the whereabouts of Derek's ex-wife.

"She's packing." Alex looked sadly down at his tray. "She's moving out of the hotel."

"Is she staying with Shepherd?" Izzie asked excitedly.

"Izzie!" George scolded her, while glancing at Meredith.

"What?" She sighed, "You were wondering that exact same question too!"

"It doesn't matter." Alex picked at his food. "I don't know."

Meredith thought for a moment. "They wouldn't stay together. They're getting a divorce."

"She's probably staying at lonely apartment somewhere." Izzie thought out loud, "Alex!" Her eyes lit up. "You should ask her if she needs a roommate!"

"Thanks, Iz." Alex said sarcastically, "I feel really loved and wanted."

"I'm not trying to get rid of you," Izzie shook her head. "I just thought you'd be happier with her. And George could come back!" She missed the good ol' days of George, Izzie, and Meredith.

George sat up rather proudly.

"I guess I could mention it...but we'd only live together as friends."

"What do you mean?" Meredith asked.

"She doesn't want to be with me," Alex admitted.

Izzie touched his shoulder. "She doesn't mean that."

He shrugged it off. "Yes, she does."

George laughed, "Alex got dumped?!" Meredith and Izzie glared at him. "I mean, sorry, man." The male interns weren't having the greatest luck with women this week.

"That's why you've been so quiet!" Izzie exclaimed.

This wasn't helping Alex get over Addison. "I didn't get dumped!" He insisted. "We-" he did air quotes, "'mutually agreed', in Meredith's terms, to stop seeing each other." He paused. "Besides, I'm seeing someone else."

Izzie dropped her fork. "You're seeing someone ELSE?"

George glared at him, jealous. How could he move on so easily?

"Who?" Meredith asked.

"Nope." Alex shook his head. "I'm not telling you guys. You'll just screw with her, and mess it all up."

"We won't!" Izzie pleaded, "We promise!"

"Give us a hint." Meredith was trying to restrain herself, so she wasn't as crazy as Izzie, but it was obvious that she was truly interested.

Alex cracked his knuckles. "Well," he pretended to be all smooth and suave, "She's pretty, obviously. And she has brown hair. And she's really funny."

"It's Callie!" Izzie shrieked, partially in amusment, partially in disgust.

"Not cool," George frowned. It was breaking a man-law, dating another man's girlfriend only two days after they broke up.

Alex laughed. "It's not Callie."

"Yes, it is." Meredith wasn't sure how she felt about it yet. "We don't believe you."

He repeated himself. "It's not Callie."

George, Meredith, and Izzie still wouldn't believe him. They pouted and pleaded for him to tell them more, but he wouldn't say anything except, "It's not Callie."

"You know? I feel like I don't know you anymore." Izzie was still pissed. Callie? He knew how much Izzie disliked Callie. She thought for a moment, and then clapped her hands in delight. "We should have a party! You know, to reconnect."

"I don't know, Iz." Meredith frowned. Izzie's kind of 'party' didn't sound like one that she wanted to be a part of.

"It'll be fun!" Izzie smiled.

"I'll go." George wanted to spend more time with Meredith outside of the hospital. Also, there was an added bonus of alcohol. It was always easier to tell someone how you felt with a few martinis in you. "Come on, Mer. We can dance and play cards again."

Meredith relented, but Alex refused.

"Aleeeex." Izzie whined, "You can bring your new girlfriend. We all want to meet her."

Alex reconsidered. The element of surprise did have it's advantages.

"And," she tapped him on the shoulder, "We'll invite Dr. Montgomery. So she can see you and be jealous!" Izzie smiled at her logic.

"Okay." Alex agreed through gritted teeth.

He would only go for one reason: To witness the chaos that was inevitably going to break out.

* * *

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated for a while. I've been working on some original fiction, but this is much more fun. I know this chapter isn't the best, and I'm posting it only because I'm going to be gone, and I wanted to give you guys something. I'm planning on bringing my laptop, but who knows with the internet connection in Mexico.

The next chapter is super exciting. In fact, this chapter's only purpose was to set up for the next chapter. You get to meet Alex's date, AND Addison's date. Both of whom, I hope will be a surprise. But you should try and guess anyway. How about, first one to guess either of them wins...a pony? Or a puppy. And all secrets are revealed. Oh, and it's the last chapter in this section.

BTW, this-- /images/westhighlandterriers/westie-puppy3.jpg is McDreamy. He's my favorite. 3

Review, please. I'll love you forever, and like you for always.


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